The Miami Heat won 27 games in a row during the regular season, finishing the year with 66 wins and the best record in the NBA. They were pushed to seven games twice, but they are now the back-to-back NBA Champions.

So it was a little stunning in the wake of the Heat win to hear so much talk about what the Heat need to change to keep winning. Granted, they showed cracks in the armor, and yes a lot of that is tied to the fact LeBron James can opt out next summer. But still this is the team firmly entrenched on the top of the NBA mountain and a lot of people focused right past that.

Not the guys in the locker room. They are not listening to all that talk, Ray Allen told ProBasketballTalk.

“That’s probably the single most thing we try stay away from is what people think we need to do, or whether this is that is happening during a game,” Allen said. “We won 27 games in a row this season and they always found a reason why we weren’t good enough, why we couldn’t do this. Then it became must see TV after a while where people tuned in, where some people were rooting for us to lose and other people rooting for us to continue to go because it’s a great story. A great sports story. Something that’s historic that people will talk about for a long time.

“But at the end of the day it was stories that we didn’t really need to follow because we were the ones that were creating the stories. That’s all we want, to give people a reason to talk about us because we won.”

The volume of that noise around the Heat is going to go up next season because LeBron James is going to be asked in every city about his plans for the following summer — and when he dodges the question reporters will ask his teammates about LeBron.

Allen said he thinks this team can keep those distractions at bay.

“I think it’s pretty easy,” Allen said. “It depends the guys that you’re dealing with. We have a mature group of guys, very veteran group of guys that are about family, their own family. Most guys on the team have multiple kids that they have to raise. Your focus is sometimes so much in their direction you don’t have time to do things, just play basketball and go home and take care of the kids.

“So when we come to the locker room we talk about the kids and joke about small little things that they do. We don’t worry about the other things that are inconsequential.”

And the Heat believe they can three-peat.

“I have no doubt,” Allen said. “Obviously the league changes and they adjust to what we do, so in some form or fashion we have to improve what we’re doing. Whether that’s individually, some of the things we do offensively or defensively, there’s something every year that always needs to change. You can’t stand pat when the rest of the league gets better.”

However, the Heat largely have stood pat. The only expected roster change is Juwan Howard being released and replaced by a guy who will likely play just about as much (which is to say almost never).

Allen is back to his day-to-day summer life as a father. His son has diabetes so both father and son are in Washington this week to lobby for the Special Diabetes Program – legislation focused on multi-year funding of Type 1 diabetes research.

Allen will testify before congress this week about the impact of the disease and the need for longer-term funding to find a cure. In this setting is one place his celebrity is an advantage — Allen and his wife have done a number of public service announcements with Walker, and they are personally involved in the cause.

“I just tell (the congressmen and women) a little bit about who we are as a family and who Walker is,” Allen said. “Basically giving a human side to the story — diabetes is not just a word or a disease, there are people who fight every day to keep their children alive. There are families all across America like that.

“I’m just a dad just trying to make sure his son gets the proper care that he deserves and hope that one day they find a cure. It just so happens that I do have a high profile job and I walk into a room of high profile people and let them know this what I deal with regardless of what I’m dealing with professionally.”

There will be a lot to deal with professionally next season, but Allen said he still trying to savor that title run because it was a hard mountain to climb.

“It was extremely satisfying,” Allen said of the second title. “Just a year removed I was thinking I could have been retired, even before last year, because, you know, I played a long time. At that point I had 16 years in and at some point you got to say when is enough enough? But I’ve taken such great care of my body, and taking care of my game and being on point. Having left Boston and being in Miami, there was so much uncertainty, you don’t know how it’s going to happen, to have won is just extremely satisfying.”

As any team should do. Block out the noise, refuse to be a prisoner of the moment, and stick to the fundamentals and the hard work that got you where you are. Maybe the Heat will add somebody like Greg Oden or Dalembert, maybe not. While there are certainly no guarantees that “bringing the band back together” will result in another title, anybody who things the Heat absolutely must make sweeping changes this offseason is crazy.

Wade’s health at this point is the biggest “if” for Miami. When Wade is a superstar every night, the Heat are head and shoulders above anybody else. If Wade is a supertstar for just 2-3 games in a 7 game series, things get much closer.

Yep, they are my “boys” however they need an upgade in their Bench, Small Forward ( Haslem is weak) someone in the Middle (Bosh isn`t a 5 period), maybe coaching is a concern. How good would he be if it weren`t for LeBron ?

With Ray Allen opted-in and Birdman re-signed the only thing Miami should do is sit and wait. They’ve benefited from amnestied players, perhaps they can again. Metta World Peace or Kendrick Perkins might be available if amnestied. Although the Heat could really use a PG in case Cole or Chalmers ever get hurt.

Let us not forget that Ray Allen is a traitor: He left a FINALS team when he left Boston and CAUSED the blow up of the Celtics this Summer. Had he re-signed with Boston, they could have traded Rondo for a legit Center AND a new point guard, while Allen, Pierce and Garnett would have stayed and WON another Final. Granted he didn’t leave for money but he did leave for selfish reasons. Loyalty has been erased from the NBA disctionary, as LeBron will surely re-prove next Summer at this time.

I can’t take your loyalty criticism seriously when it is well known that the Celtics attempted to trade Ray Allen twice. There’s also rumors that he didn’t get along with Rondo. Combine that with the fact that he lost his starting role with the team and they had signed Jason Terry in the offseason… I can’t imagine a good reason for him staying with the Celtics.

stop the bull he left for a better opportunity just like you would but for more money where is the loyalty, players are let go where is the loyalty, coaches leave where is the loyalty, good coaches are fired where is the loyalty

ProBasketballPundit - Jul 10, 2013 at 2:39 PM

There’s something to be said for roster continuity. Look how bad the Lakers were this season and how the Heat struggled in 2010. Even if everybody’s getting old they’ll only gain chemistry and wisdom for another playoff run.

The Heat “struggled” in 2010-11? I guess if you consider “struggling” to mean going all the way to Game 6 of the NBA Finals then yes, the Heat struggled that year.

Did the Spurs struggle this year? Did the Thunder struggle last year?

You know who struggled in 2010-11? The MVP Derrick Rose who was made to look like a 10th grader by LeBron. You know who else struggled? Rose’s top seeded Bulls who lost to the Heat in 5. You know who else struggled? The Fabled Big 3 of Boston of whom the Heat also easily dispatched.

And the Heat did all this “struggling” with a completely broken down Mike Miller, no Udonis Haslem (until the ECFs), and major playing time from the likes of Mike Bibby, Carlos Arroyo, Jamaal Magliorre, Erick Dampier, Big Z, & Eddie House. Plus Joel Anthony played HUGE minutes. It’s truly amazing the Heat did as well as they did that year.

Couple the horrible supporting cast with the unbelievable and unprecedented wave of criticism/venom/hatred/pressure (much self-induced) that LeBron (and wade & Bosh) was facing that season and you can make an argument that 2010-11 was his most remarkable of the three he’s had here.

So when you talk of the Heat “struggling” in 2010-11, you may want to actually use the word “overachieve”.

Ray Allen is to blame for absolutely nothing in Boston, even if he had stayed they would never have traded Rondo. Doc Rivers and Ainge had made that clear, that’s one of the reasons he left. Boston was getting old and their peak was in 2008, that’s just a fact. For Boston fans to think that the Celtics could have had another run with that group is delusional at best …

And as far as Lebron leaving, think again. I think Miami will reload Lakers’ style in 2014. Bosh will leave so they will sign a big free agent and if Wade want to play a diminished vetran type role, they will certainly be able to pull it off again.

Riley is the guy to make it happen. He spent a lot of time with Jerry Buss and Jerry West. He knows what he’s doing. Having him in the front office making or influencing the decision-making process is only good.

lol I love how people think players should be loyal to their teams when they will trade them in a heartbeat. they tried trading ray twice and failed. also … he wasn’t drafted by the Celtics in the first place so why the fucj should he be loyal to them. he didn’t want money, he wanted the best chance to compete for another title and that’s with the best player in the world in LBJ . people have to get out of their fantasy world.

and look at what you just said … trade one of the vest pg in the game who is entering his prime to make a bunch of 35 year olds happy. then magically replace him and get another center. say what you want about rondo but he was a big reason why Boston had their run in the first place.

If a meteor hit the stadium nobody would have won. Sports are funny. The team with the most points wins. Your team probably never got the dance let alone had a chance to win by a rebound and a heaven sent 3 pointer, loser.

Hey, Miami did get better than the year before last, and needed two crucial 7 game series to win. No way, without ray and bird do they repeat. Is Ray on crack? They had better get better, repeat better get better, to do the threap! Hey, Rondo might be available…